BUCYRUS - A handful of both retired and active firefighters told city council Tuesday that the fire department needs more money.

Voters were promised four years ago that the fire department would see increased funding when they voted in favor of a safety forces levy, according to former Bucyrus Fire Capt. Mike Hassinger, who represented the group.

"At the end of this year, the city will have collected the safety forces income tax for four years, and the fire department is still not at the staffing level it was prior to the budget cuts," Hassinger said.

Hassinger said that before the levy was passed, Dan Ross, a former fire chief was the city's mayor at the time, negotiated with the leaders of the firefighters union to reduce the on-duty staff from four firefighters per day to only three.

"Both sides were trying to prevent layoffs," Hassinger said. "Ultimately, we did have to lay off some firefighters, but we were able to receive a federal safer grant to get them back to work."

After two failed tax proposals, Hassinger said the firefighters supported a 0.5 percent income tax citywide.

"The safety forces of Bucyrus went to the citizens in good faith, based on what council told us, and worked our tails off to get the tax increase passed," Hassinger said.

Hassinger said that continuing with only three firefighters on duty for the entire city is not safe.

"I could spend the next half-hour on all the safety reasons for the citizens and firefighters on why we need a minimum of four on duty every day," Hassinger said.

Hassinger said that he believes there is enough money in the city's unappropriated funds to pay for the increase in staffing.

Figures provided by the city administration after the meeting show that spending for the fire department has increased by 65 percent since the safety forces levy passed in 2013, from $1.03 million annually to $1.7 million in 2017. The city's overall safety forces spending rose from $2.7 million to $4.7 million during the same time frame.

In closing Hassinger invited the city's administration to join him and a few other retired firefighters for breakfast some morning and discuss the issue further.

"We would love to sit around, have a cup of coffee with you and just talk," Hassinger said.